We can’t help but be impressed with the continued progress made by the Lafayette Parish School System in educational attainment. The latest news is that the parish posted the highest gains in the state for K-3 reading proficiency during the 2025-26 school year among districts serving more than 29,000 students.
We have always had strong public schools in Lafayette, but in recent years, with acrimony over school closures and consolidations, it can be easy to lose sight of the stellar work being done by administrators, teachers, counselors and support staff day in and day out to make sure students in LPSS have a good foundation for success.
The latest scores from the state Department of Education give Lafayette much reason to be proud. It’s the third year in a row that students in grades K-3 have been screened for growth in reading proficiency over the school year. Students take what is known as the K-3 Literacy Screener three times — within the first 30 days of school, in December, and in April.
Statewide, students in kindergarten showed the biggest gains over the course of the year, with 29.1% reading on or above grade level in the fall and 69% by the spring. Overall, 66.2% of K-3 students in Louisiana finished the year reading at or above grade level, up from 49.7% at the beginning of the school year.
Louisiana Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said the growth is rewarding to see, but the state is far from done.
“It’s critical we stay the course and keep moving in the right direction,” Brumley said.
We must also laud Brumley and his department for continuing to identify common-sense changes that can make all the difference in moving the needle on education.
The literacy screenings are a recent innovation that is contributing to Louisiana’s success in improving reading scores, for which the state has been nationally recognized. The assessments increase in difficulty throughout the year. The Department of Education says this can help improve outcomes, as it gives teachers real-time data they can use to support struggling students.
Among K-3 students in Lafayette, 67.1% were reading on or above grade level at the end of the year, an increase of 18.7 percentage points from the start of the year. That beat the state average of 16.5 percentage points in growth. In Lafayette, across all demographic groups, more than half the students were reading on or above grade level by the end of the year.
Lafayette Parish Superintendent Francis Touchet Jr. said the gains reflect the district’s laser focus on its goals and strategies.
“Growth is one of our core values, and this is exactly the kind of progress we promised our families and community we would pursue, he said.
We’d say that’s a promise kept.